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Sheila Leather
Sheila Leather (17 January 1898 - 27 January 1983) was an engineer, business owner and president of the Women's Engineering Society in 1950–51. Early life Sheila Leather was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire on 17 January 1898 to Annie (née Lyon) and John Walter Leather, an analytical chemist. She had two sisters, Alice Muriel born in 1889 and Wenonah Hardwick born in 1890. Her father was the head of the chemical department at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute established in 1904 at Pusa in Bihar, India. Leather was a boarder at Liverpool High School for Girls in 1911, and it is assumed both her older sisters were in India with their father, as Alice Muriel married Claud Mews Mackenzie Hutchinson in 1914. Her other sister Wenonah Hardwick married Eric Cecil Ansorge in 1915. Both weddings took place in Pusa. Career Before the Second World War Leather was a Physical Training Lecturer at Hockerill Teacher Training College, Bishop Stortford Hertfordshire, having train ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verena Holmes
Verena Winifred Holmes (23 June 1889 – 20 February 1964) was an English mechanical engineer and multi-field inventor, the first woman member elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924) and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (1931), and was a strong supporter of women in engineering. She was one of the early members of the Women's Engineering Society, and its president in 1931. She was the first practising engineer to serve as president of the society. Early life She was born at Highworth, Ashford, Kent to Florence Mary Holmes (née Syme) (d. 1927), and Edmond Gore Alexander Holmes, chief inspector of elementary schools for England. She was one of three children, her brother Maurice Gerald Holmes (1885–1964) became a leading British civil servant. Her sister Flora or Florence Ruth Holmes, known as Ruth, (1881-1969) was a writer. Holmes was educated at Oxford High School for Girls, and after leaving school worked briefly as a photographer before the outbr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birkenhead
Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and became part of Merseyside in 1974. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics had a population of 109,835. Birkenhead Priory and the Mersey Ferry were established in the 12th century. In the 19th century, Birkenhead expanded greatly as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, leading to a shipbuilding firm which became Cammell Laird. A Great Float, seaport was established. As the town grew, Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out. The first street tramway in Britain was built, followed by the Mersey Railway which connected Birkenhead and Liverpool through the world's first railway tunnel beneath a tidal estuary. In the sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bishop's Stortford
Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the M11 motorway and London Stansted Airport, Stansted Airport, 28 miles north-east of Charing Cross and 35 minutes by rail from Liverpool Street station. The town had an estimated population of 41,088 in 2020. The district of East Hertfordshire, where the town centre is located, was ranked as the best place to live in the UK by the Halifax Quality of Life annual survey in 2020. History Toponymy The origins of the town's name are uncertain. One possibility is that the Saxons, Saxon settlement derives its name from 'Steorta's ford' or 'tail ford', in the sense of a 'tail', or tongue, of land. The town became known as Bishop's Stortford due to the acquisition in 1060 by the Bishop of London. The River Stort is named after the town, and not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woman's Hour
''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme called ''Women's Hour'', which was first broadcast on 2 May 1923. The BBC was then a brand new organisation, just a few months old, grappling with the sorts of programmes that might appeal to its small but growing audience. With married women firmly based in the home, either through convention or because of marriage bars, the BBC would have been aware of this captive daytime audience. The person brought in to oversee ''Women's Hour'' was Mrs Ella Fitzgerald, a former Fleet Street journalist, and the inaugural programme included two talks, one on "The Adoption of Babies" given by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the other on "Fashions" by the couturier, Lady Duff Gordon. Broadcast six days a week, initially at 5pm, ''Women's Hour'' encom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ira Rischowski
Ira (Irene) Rischowski (1 August 1899 – 1989) was one of Germany's first female engineers and active in the German anti-Nazi resistance group Neu Beginnen before fleeing to Britain. In the UK she became a member of the Women's Engineering Society, serving on the Council and supporting efforts to encourage British women to become engineers. Early career Rischowski was born in Germany in 1899 to Albert Rischowski (b. 10 January 1848 - ) and Ida née Salomonsohn (12 June 1867– 26 November 1943), the eldest of four children. The family were Jewish by heritage but the children were baptised. Albert Rischowski ran shipyards and took young Ira with him to watch the riveting of the ships which inspired her to become an engineer. In 1919, Rischowski enrolled as the first female engineering student at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, Technical University of Darmstadt. Her successful application was supported by six months experience repairing agricultural equipment. From 1928, R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winifred Hackett
Winifred Hackett (2 October 1906 – 3 June 1994) was an electrical and aeronautical engineer who worked on guided weapon systems and the DEUCE computer. Early life and education Hackett was born in Kings Norton, an area of Birmingham on 2 October 1906. She attended King Edward's Girls’ High School in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Hackett was an exceptional student and won a scholarship whilst at the school. She originally planned to study architecture and for a time attended UCL with this purpose, but decided to change academic direction, returning to Birmingham to study engineering instead. In 1929 Hackett was the first woman to graduate from the University of Birmingham with an engineering degree, and won the prize for the 'Best Engineer in the University of Birmingham' in 1930. Hackett's academic success resulted in the award of the Bowen Scholarship for Electrical Engineering, which enabled her to stay on to earn an MSc. A further grant from the Institution of Electrical E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Heywood
Frances Heywood (14 April 1902 – 18 September 1994) was a British metallurgist and engineer. Early life and education Heywood was born Frances Dora Weaver in Brentford, North east London, to an itinerant Methodist preacher. Her family followed her father so she attended Bradford Girls' Grammar School and Sheffield High School in Yorkshire. Heywood won the Arnott Scholarship which allowed her to get a degree in chemistry from Bedford College, University of London in 1924. Career After college she got a position as Assistant Metallurgist in Harley, Surrey for the Lanston Monotype Company Ltd. While she was there, the mechanical team assisted her to keep her motorbike maintained. She used it to commute to work. In 1926 Heywood became a member of the Women’s Engineering Society and joined the council in 1928. Heywood married Harold Heywood in 1932. She retired from work on her marriage and they had 3 children, Prof. John Heywood, Jennifer Clark, and Richard Heywood. She cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elsie Eleanor Verity
Elsie Eleanor Verity (14 August 1894 – 9 June 1971) was known as "The First Lady of the motor trade". Biography Elsie Eleanor Verity was also known as Miss E E Verity and was born in Barton upon Irwell, Lancashire, in 1894 to William and Lilly Verity. William Verity came from a metalworking family. He began as a whitesmith, then a fitter and began a building bikes which became a motor garage in Manchester. Education Verity attended Manchester Central High School and at 16 she left school and began learning engineering from her father. He had already taught her to drive when she was 13. By the time she was 14, Verity was teaching driving. On her sixteenth birthday in 1910, she was sent by her father to drive a car back from London to Manchester (well over 200 miles), accompanied by a garage employee who had been instructed that she was to drive the entire way herself. Verity went to the Manchester College of Technology and Manchester High School of Commerce where she took ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Greater London to the north-west. The county town is Maidstone. The county has an area of and had population of 1,875,893 in 2022, making it the Ceremonial counties of England#Lieutenancy areas since 1997, fifth most populous county in England. The north of the county contains a conurbation which includes the towns of Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham, and Rochester, Kent, Rochester. Other large towns are Maidstone and Ashford, Kent, Ashford, and the City of Canterbury, borough of Canterbury holds City status in the United Kingdom, city status. For local government purposes Kent consists of a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and the unitary authority area of Medway. The county historically included south-ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Strood and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2020 had a population of 108,785. Etymology Gillingham's name is Old English in origin and means "the homestead of Gylla's people". The names of Gillingham, Dorset, Gillingham in Dorset and Gillingham, Norfolk, Gillingham in Norfolk have the same etymology, despite the differing pronunciation. Status Gillingham became an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, gaining municipal borough status in 1903. John Robert Featherby was the first mayor of the Borough of Gillingham. In 1928 Rainham, Kent, Rainham was added to the Gillingham Borough. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it became a non-metropolitan district which also covered Hempstead, Kent, Hempstead, Wigmore, Kent, Wigmore and Rainham. This dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Tempest
The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the ''Typhoon II'', was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to address the Typhoon's unexpected deterioration in performance at high altitude by replacing its wing with a thinner laminar flow design. Since it had diverged considerably from the Typhoon, it was renamed ''Tempest''. The Tempest emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of World War II and at low altitude was the fastest single-engine propeller-driven aircraft of the war. Upon entering service in 1944, the Tempest performed low-level interception, particularly against the V-1 flying bomb threat, and ground attack supporting major invasions like Operation Market Garden. Later, it successfully targeted the rail infrastructure in Germany and ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft on the ground, as well as countering similar attacks by German fighters. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this requirement.Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 16. The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve .303 British, .303 inch (7.7 mm) M1919 Browning machine gun, Browning machine guns and be powered by the latest engines. Its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. When the ''Luftwaffe'' brought the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor. The Typhoon became established in roles such as night-time intruder and long-range fighter. From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
